Perfect

I thought this was a nice refresher course for the beginner's mind.It's a simple two paragraphs from the book, Nothing Special, by JokoBeck...

'Practice is not about having experiences, not about having giant realizations, not about getting somewhere or becoming something. We are perfect as we are. By "perfect" I mean simply that this is it. Practice is simply maintaining awareness-of our activities and also ofthe thoughts that separate us from our activities. As we hammer nails or sit, we simply hammer nails or sit. Since our senses are open, wehear and feel other things as well: sounds, smells, and so on. When thoughts arise, we notice them, and return to our direct experience.

Awareness is our true self; it's what we are. So we don't have to try to develop awareness; we simply need to notice how we block awareness,with our thoughts, our fantasies, our opinions, and our judgments.We're either in awareness, which is our natural state, or we're doing something else. The mark of mature students is that most of the time,they don't do something else. They're just here, living their life.Nothing special.'